Track staff at Moonee Valley have been working hard to restore the turf following the discovery of multiple diseases after last month’s William Reid Stakes meeting — but concerns remain ahead of the venue’s return to racing this Saturday due to an uncertain weather forecast.
The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted between 3mm and 25mm of rain on Friday, leaving officials nervously watching the skies.
“If we get up to 7mm I’ll be ok with that, but if we get north of that, it could be an issue,” track foreman Tony Salisbury told Racing.com.
While significant progress has been made since the March 22 meeting, Salisbury admitted the surface could still be vulnerable under heavy rainfall.
“I would expect it to play well otherwise, it may still cut out, but not as much as it did (on March 22),” he said.
“We’ve had to put water on this week, including 3.5mm last night (Tuesday), because you can’t let the track dry out because it will go backwards.
“So it’s a balancing act with the right amount of moisture to get the percentages within the profile in terms of moisture readings so it doesn’t drop off.”
Salisbury revealed the team identified and addressed a number of turf issues after the William Reid Stakes meeting, including root-borne disease and three separate foliage infections.
“We knew the roots weren’t right but upon investigation after the meeting, we got some testing conducted,” he said. “There was a lot of negativity around the meeting understandably with the track cutting out, but at least now we know why.”
He added that the remediation works took a full week to complete, meaning a tight three-week turnaround to prepare for Saturday’s meeting.
“The improvement is definitely there… The track is healthy, there is no problem there though, the plant, the growth and growth rate and appearance is spot on.”
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